


Turn Into Something Beautiful

by Biromantic_Nerd



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: (at least until season 2 comes out that is), Canon Universe, Gen, Lighthearted with extremely minimal angst, M/M, One-Shot, Oneshot, Pre-Canon, Spoilers, canon compliant-ish????? just with added pre-canon backlore, family/love, found family is my jam, lighthearted fluff, not a lot happens plotwise - short and sweet, probably ooc but it's cute so I don't care, set a year before the show starts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-25
Updated: 2018-09-25
Packaged: 2019-07-17 08:39:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16092017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Biromantic_Nerd/pseuds/Biromantic_Nerd
Summary: "Rayla has decided that she won't return. For now, her heart is set on that. Maybe someday you can convince her, but maybe someday you won't feel the need to."(Or, the pre-canon fic where Rayla leaves her parents and wants to make Runaan her dad. Runaan tries to pretend like he isn't overjoyed to adopt her but we all know better)





	Turn Into Something Beautiful

**Author's Note:**

> I based Runaan and Rayla's backstory off of my own headcanon where Runaan is a teacher figure in her life that she either knew before she ran away and kept learning from him - or she ran away and found him especially because she wanted to be trained by a really good teacher to atone for her parents
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> In either case, I feel like Runaan looks after her and that's what inspired this adoption story 
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> \-------
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> Runaan's husband is called Tinker because that's a common fandom name for the elf in the credits that's tinkering with the necklaces - who is rumored to be dating/married to Runaan!
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> My version of Tinker in this fic is:
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> • Married! 
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> • A jeweler mage? Definitely a jewelery tinker, maybe a mage, and definitely not an assassin. Think the Q division to the James Bond-y moon elves 
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> • disabled! I wrote him with chronic pain and also using a cane ~just because I can~ 
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> • A moon elf

"Soooooo," Rayla dragged out nervously, and Runaan turned to look at her curiously. "Have you and Tinker _still_ not talked about it yet?"

 

"No." Runaan answered shortly, feeling decidedly guilty as her shoulders slumped and her head hung dejectedly. 

 

"The damp weather has been hard on him." He continued softly in explanation; her head lifted, her eyes widened. "Today is the first day since the weather has shifted. I will tell him about your proposal and he and I will discuss it tonight."

 

Her jaw dropped open. "You mean it?" She rushed to ask. "Promise?"

 

Runaan grimaced. 

 

"Yes."

 

Rayla beamed.

 

Runaan could not find it within himself to discourage the happy moment, no matter how short lived he knew that would be. 

 

"Race you to that tree! I've been practicing like you said! I think I can beat you now!" She challenged, grinning, and then took off without waiting for a verbal response, dashing away quickly. 

 

Runaan simply watched her go.

 

She was right - she had been practicing - and it was true that she might very well be fast enough to beat Runaan in a race. 

 

He smiled. 

 

"Did you see?" Rayla asked breathlessly as she returned, hands braced on her knees as she caught her breath, hair falling into her flushed face. 

 

"You've indeed gotten faster." Runaan agreed. She straightened up proudly under the praise. "However," He cautioned, "Don't sacrifice your breathing techniques for speed. Practice utilizing both methods of your training, and your endurance will increase. Try it again - _without_ exhausting your air supply." 

 

Rayla groaned tiredly. 

 

"It is an incredibly impressive speed." Runaan remarked quietly. "To be able to maintain that speed would elevate your abilities to best even the most talented among us."

 

"Even you?" Rayla blurted, looking surprised with herself at the question. 

 

"Yes, Rayla," His smile was small, soft, and _proud_. "Even me."

 

Her entire countenance changed, her face lighting up with awe and determination. 

 

"How do I practice doing this the right way?" She asked, eyeing the faraway tree speculatively. 

 

"First, reflect upon our previous sessions of meditative breathing patterns - "

 

Rayla's shoulders slumped, and she stared at the ground with an impatient, upset frown. 

 

Runaan paused. 

 

" - tomorrow." He ammended said, "We'll briefly review the principles of meditation tomorrow. But, for now, let's see about that race, shall we?"

 

Rayla grinned, laughing delightedly. " _Really?_ " 

 

He nodded. 

 

Her grin widened even further, and he somehow couldn't bring himself to regret the postponement of their training session. 

 

 

______________________________________________

 

 

"Rayla wishes to join us." Runaan decided upon eventually, unsure of how to breach the subject, now that, hours laters, he was in his house and supposed to somehow talk to his husband about it. He had practiced many approaches - had previoudly come up with elegant and poignant words - only to blurt that sentence out nonsensically as his husband was distracted by his own work. 

 

"For supper? She's always welcome."

 

"Tinker," Runaan sighed. 

 

His husband paused at the sound. "Alright," He set down his supplies and stilled his hands. "I'm listening. What's wrong?"

 

Runaan shook his head. "Should I not be encouraging Rayla to go home? Is it not my duty to her family? Yet every time I try, the words just alter themselves as they leave my tongue. I cannot bring myself to tell her to leave, and now, because of my failings, she has asked to stay." 

 

"What duty do you have to a family that, for the sake of a child's happiness, cannot be overlooked?" Tinker asked softly, looking concerned at his husband's distress. 

 

Yet again Runaan shook his head. "How am I to face her, claiming I have her best interests at heart, when I haven't even sought to reunite her with her family? It feels like a lie." 

 

Tinker reached out with his hand wordlessly. Runaan stepped forward immediately and rested his cheek against the offered palm, grasping the back of his husband's hand with his own as he held it against his face. Softly, Tinker smiled. 

 

The two of them stayed that way for several minutes, basking in each others comfort silently; Tinker sitting on a wooden stool, hand raised high and Runaan standing next to him, face tucked gently against that hand, eyes closed. Taking in the comfort his husband offered. 

 

"You don't give yourself enough credit," Tinker said, finally breaking the silence. 

 

"Oh?" Runaan asked without moving, lips curving upwards in momentary contentment, the side of his smile stretching against Tinker's palm and eyes still shut. 

 

"Right now, Rayla refuses to go back. You won't be able to change her mind. If you try to do so, she'll just run away from us." 

 

Runaan murmured an incomprehensible noise in reply. 

 

"Isn't it better, then, that she stay with us, where we can look after her? If we forbid her this, it won't return to her parents, as you hope it will; it will only ensure her loneliness." 

 

Runaan opened his eyes. Slowly, he straightened up from his delicate perch on his husband. He used his hand to guide his husband's palm to his mouth for a soft kiss before releasing him and shifting away, staring at the floor pensively as Tinker continued talking. 

 

"Rayla has decided that she won't return. For now, her heart is set on that. Maybe someday you can convince her, but maybe someday you won't feel the need to."

 

"She's stubborn." Runaan agreed. 

 

"She is stubborn." Tinker said sympathetically; he then added on an amused, "She must have learned that from you." 

 

Runaan turned, expression indignant. "She did not." 

 

"Of course, of course." Tinker placated. He pretended to focus his attention back on his work, gaze serious as three times he attempted apprentice level work and failed due to the ill suppressed laughter coursing through him. 

 

Runaan sighed deeply, conflicted and lost in thought. 

 

"I told her weeks ago that I would discuss this with you, but I was hesitant in doing so. I see now it is because I dreaded the conclusion we might come to, the one we are about to come to." He paused. "Do you truly think she could have a place amongst us - _with_ us?" 

 

Tinker smiled as he carefully set down the bracelet. "We can't know if we never try, now can we?" 

 

Runaan stared at his husband in exasperation. His husband looked up to meet his gaze with an open grin. The moment he had been dreading for weeks had passed as easily as that, expertly evaporated under the warmth of his husband's gaze. 

 

"Hopeless," Runaan shook his head. "The both of you."

 

Tinker laughed. 

 

"Truly," Runaan continued, face softening as he began to acknowledge his husband's victory, "You both have your hearts set upon this - "

 

"Oh, beloved," Tinker laughed once more, interrupting. "You say that as if your heart isn't in total harmony with ours. You, perhaps, most of all want for Rayla to join us." 

 

Runaan couldn't protest. 

 

"When _are_ you going to tell her?" Tinker asked, tactfully accepting his husband's defeat for exactly that. 

 

"Tell her?" Runaan's eyebrows lifted upwards. "There's nothing to tell... Besides, it will become obvious," Runaan said, softer, "if it is not already. There's nothing to tell because she'll already been given her answer when we don't send her off." 

 

"Oh, beloved." Tinker smiled fondly. "It is unlike you to try and avoid professing sentimentalities. You usually enjoy that." 

 

Flushing all the way to his ears, Runaan pursed his lips in an attempt to not to laugh openly at the self satisfied expression written across his husband's face. 

 

Rising from the wooden stool he was sitting on, Tinker made to grab his cane. "Why don't you take some time and compose your thoughts, husband of mine, and I'll go tell Rayla to come home to help us with supper." 

 

Runaan's eyes widened. Breathless, he couldn't respond. 

 

Tinker's smug and teasing grin gentled into a soft smile, a knowing look of understanding in his gaze. 

 

"It does sound nice, doesn't it? _Home._ " 

 

"It sounds beautiful." Runaan agreed quietly, reverently, awed. 

 

Tinker rested his hand against Runaan's shoulder. "Even if this family ends up only being temporary, it doesn't make it any less real of a family. To raise someone else's child and call them yours is an _honor_ \- not a theft. Come," He tilted his head towards the door, "Let's go together and bring our new child home." 

 

Runaan's placed his hand to overlapped on top of his husband's, intertwining their fingers. "Together."

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to write a cute story where Runaan and his husband adopt Rayla, thanks for reading
> 
> Title is from "Yellow" by Coldplay


End file.
